Newsletter

Posted November 3, 2012 01:48 pm

Why to vote for charter amendment

Three reasons charter school supporters say voters should pick yes for the proposed charter school amendment:

1. Georgia’s current system of charter school amendments stifles the creation of new charter schools. Applicants now have to go first to local school boards, which often see charter schools as competition for state dollars, according to charter school advocates like Athens’ Jim Geiser.

“School boards are unwilling to relinquish the control and the educational dollars, even when groups propose high-quality, accountable charter schools,” Geiser writes in an Athens Banner-Herald opinion piece..

2. The commission created by the proposed amendment would authorize more charter schools in Georgia, which will give parents more choice about how their children are educated.

“The sad truth is that while many families are able to move into a home in a good school district or to put their child in a private school, many more families can’t afford to. For such parents dissatisfied with the quality of their local school – or when it does not meet their child’s needs – there is no affordable alternative. A public charter school may be the answer,” according to Benita Dodd, vice president of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation.

3. Encouraging more charter school creation will also encourage innovation, which could improve education not just for students in the charter schools themselves but by setting examples for other schools to follow.

“Being free from onerous mandates means a charter school has the freedom to develop its own curriculum, pacing, goals and educational standards. Administrators then use their school’s unique qualities to attract like-minded parents and their children,” according to Families for Better Public Schools, a group headed by charter school advocate Mark Peevy.